I've read this book before, probably when I was fifteen. I had dubbed it my favourite book back then but I think we all have a weird dystopian teenage phase that we just have to go through to realise what our favourite book really is and why it probably isn't about a government taking over a society. When I thought of reviewing this book again, I thought to myself really Kermit, really? Another old classic?
So naturally I ordered a bunch of other books that aren't dystopian or gothic but since the post service absolutely hates me, I'm stuck with reviewing old books I haven't read in years until I can update my library.
In other news I think this book should be classified as a horror story because the thought of living in the dystopian society they're forced into makes me want to throw the book away and never read it again. Basically the story is that the main character is Winston Smith, a thirty-nine-year-old man who, like the rest of the population, lives an extremely poor and meager life with food rations and declining housing, overseen at all times by Big Brother, the supreme leader of Oceania (England), one of the three countries in the world. Winston works at the party-controlled Ministry of Truth, where he revised and censored texts and images so that they appear as if Big Brother is always right and acts in the right way. Everywhere, even in the homes, there are eavesdropping devices and telescopes that are always on to broadcast party propaganda and monitor everything the population is doing.
First of all this is not one of those book reviews that preach how similar Orwells made up society is to ours because those are tiring to read like yeah we get it, shut up.
Second of all, this book review is purely about story, writing style and theme.
Few novels are as difficult to escape as George Orwell's in 1984. The references extend far beyond the ordinary literary sphere. The book is so well written, I'm a big fan of Orwells writing style because I have never read anyone else's work that inflicts so much depression into you through every sentence, it is like his work was purely made for sadness and nothing else. The whole theme of the book is very much obviously a depressive gloomy state, Winston hates his society and his job and he is surrounded by people that are following the governments lead. Orwell does the utmost to capture the eerie feeling of always being watched, like when you're outside and you feel someone staring at you? That one. My favourite quote from the book is “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.” and this is not because of the oppression against love in the book but the way that Orwell has managed to display the emptyness in the characters and the hollowness that has been left behind after having lived in this gut-wrenching society. It takes a certain level of desperation for a person to reach a place where they would throw themselves into what they think is love solely based on the fact that they need someone to fill that gap, and while it's selfish and cruel, it shows the suffering of Winstons mental state throughout the book.
The psychological manipulation and the physical control held over the characters puts you in a place where you feel like you want to sympathize with everyone because even the ones brain washed have been through the stages to reach this point and at the same time you feel like you just want Winston and Julia to win this battle they have taken on and in the end your feelings are so torn between Julia and Winston because I can't decide who has the worst fate.
The book stands perfectly well for its "classic" category, it makes sense, it remains relevant throughout the years and progress, it's not accurate in a weird conspiracy theory kind of way but I think that if someone researched then maybe there could be some likeness somewhere between the world and the novel.
I really love the book but it is too heart breaking for me to read again and after picking it up this time I remembered why I haven't read it in so long.
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